


if you travel through the woods

by kythen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, First Meetings, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 08:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13142583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kythen/pseuds/kythen
Summary: There issomethingout there and Daichi can sense it, even if he can’t see it. Daichi has always felt at home in the forest, filled with trees and plants and animals, all familiar to him, but these woods are different. None of them have ever been this far away from home and these woods are strange to them.Daichi leads his group through the woods in search of safety.





	if you travel through the woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarksStars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarksStars/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Ari!
> 
> 'Tis I, your Kurodai Secret Santa (ohohoho).
> 
> Here is your gift! I love fantasy au too so I was super pumped to be writing this. I focused specifically on one aspect of your wishlist prompt but it takes a while to get to it. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this!
> 
> Love, Ky ♡

“Stay close,” Daichi tells the others, glancing over his shoulder at the youngest ones of the group as they start to stray into a copse of trees to the side. “We don’t know what are in these woods.”

It is twilight and the woods stir in the light breeze that fans over them, the sky a delicate swirl of pink and purple peeking out from the leaf canopy above their heads. The wind plucks at their clothes and tugs at their hoods, threatening to lift the rough cloth from their heads. Daichi pulls his hood low over his eyes, his footsteps a quiet whisper over the ground as he leads his group deeper into the woods.

There is _something_ out there and Daichi can sense it, even if he can’t see it. Daichi has always felt at home in the forest, filled with trees and plants and animals, all familiar to him, but these woods are different. None of them have ever been this far away from home and these woods are strange to them.

They have been travelling for close to a week now, the days blurring together in a haze of constant movement as they head towards their destination. Daichi had prioritised secrecy over speed and they had taken detours along the way to throw off any would-be pursuers, listening carefully for the _clip-clop_ hooves of horses as they went along. Food and water wasn’t a problem for them when they were used to life in the wild, but it was life on the run that was wearing down on them. No one in the group has been able to speak in voices louder than a whisper or go any further than ten steps from their group and Daichi can tell that they are getting restless.

This pace is getting to Daichi too and he has been twitchy, his eyes flitting to every rustling leaf and snapping twig as if they were warning signs of their pursuers. In the twilight, he thinks he sees shadows out of the corner of his eyes, shifting and fading away when he looks directly at them, and it is just about driving him crazy. Daichi’s nerves are already grated down to their last thread and he doesn’t need shadows that aren’t there to finally make him snap.

They walk in silence until the sun dips below the distant mountains and dusk turns to night, signalling the end of a day for them. Their group settles into their makeshift camp with a routinised swiftness, preparing dinner and deciding on the watch rotation before turning in for the night. They take up places on the mossy ground and huddle close to each other, looking like gentle mounds of dirt clustered amongst the trees.

Daichi takes the first shift, sitting against the base of a tree and watching the dark encroach upon their crackling fire until his vision fills with smoky darkness. He keeps himself rooted to his place by the tree but he lets his senses wander, his consciousness washing over the snoring group close by and then drifting further out into the woods, winding through the trees and the hush of the night, listening.

A hand taps his shoulder and Daichi blinks, breaking the spell as he looks up into Ennoshita’s face.

“It’s time to switch,” Ennoshita tells him, his voice a low murmur to keep the others from hearing.

Daichi nods and stands, every part of him creaking and groaning like an old tree as he gets to his feet. Ennoshita takes his place before the campfire and Daichi shuffles off to join the sleeping knot of his group. He closes his eyes but leaves his senses awake and aware, wandering and watching for the thing in the dark he knows is there.

\---

They are almost out of the woods when Daichi realises that they have extra company. The split second he takes to notice them is too long and a cry of pain comes from the side of their group before he can react. Daichi whips around to see Hinata and Yachi tangled up in a net together, being dragged on the ground away from them.

"Daichi!" Suga yells his name and Daichi turns around, throwing himself to the side just as another net flies towards him, landing on the ground where he had just been standing.

Daichi lunges for the net and digs his hands between the metal links, yanking hard and pulling the person on the other end towards him. A wide-eyed youth comes stumbling out from the bushes and Daichi rakes his eyes over him, taking in his clothes and weapons, checking him for any identifiable marks. The youth's clothes are rough and handspun but sturdy and subtle, made for hiding out in the woods and attacking unsuspecting groups of travelers. He doesn't wear the insignia of any army and his weapons look unremarkable, bought from any town market or made in the backyard of someone's home. Daichi knocks him out with his staff before he makes to run and turns back to the mayhem unfolding behind him.

This group might not have been after Daichi's group specifically but they are still dangerous. Unmarked men and women mean that they are bandits or even worse, poachers. Judging from their first move with the nets, they belong to the latter category and Daichi can't let any of his group get captured by them. His group is divided, half engaging the poachers spilling out of the woods surrounding them and the other half going after Hinata and Yachi. They had been taught not to let attackers split them up into too small groups, not to make it easy for them to be picked off, and to always watch each other's backs in a fight. Daichi sees this in action now as Tanaka hacks at the metal rope holding the net with Hinata and Yachi inside and the others form a loose circle around him, keeping the other poachers away from him.

But judging from the number of poachers swarming into their midst, Daichi's group is gravely outnumbered even as they fell person after person. Daichi wades into the fray, keeping poachers away from him with both ends of his staff, targeting vital areas like the hollow of the throat, unprotected kidneys and groins alike. Once he reaches the centre of the fray, Daichi presses his back against Asahi's and slams the base of his staff down on a nearby poacher's foot, hearing a satisfying _crack_ sound from under the solid wood.

"We need to get out of here," Daichi says as Asahi leans against him gratefully.

"I'm with you on that but how?" Asahi asks. "There are too many of them."

"I'm going to call in a favour. Cover me."

"What?" Asahi asks, his voice rising in panic. "Daichi, what are you going to do?"

Daichi swings his staff in a wide arc, clearing out the space before him before he slams the base of his staff into the ground and looks straight into the woods. A shadow dances away from his gaze, ducking from tree to tree as if trying to shake Daichi off but Daichi follows it firmly with his eyes.

"I know you're out there," Daichi shouts, letting his voice carry out across the din. "I know that you've been there ever since we stepped into these woods because these are your woods and I understand. We're only passing through and that has been our intention from the start. But as you can see, our progress is being hindered here so I would like to ask for your help. Please. Take it as a favour to me and I promise that I'll return the favour when you ask."

Asahi shoves his shoulder against Daichi, breaking his concentration as he saves Daichi from being clobbered from the side. When Daichi looks back at the last tree he had seen the shadow at, it is gone.

"Daichi, who were you talking to?" Asahi asks, his eyes flitting from side to side, scanning the trees nervously as if looking for more unexpected company.

But Asahi is looking in the wrong place and a poacher who had been approaching them suddenly goes pale then red in the face as a shadow wraps itself around her neck. She drops to the ground in a dead faint and the shadow snakes around her, knocking out men and women with an alarming swiftness until the space around Daichi and Asahi is abruptly clear of movement.

"Him," Daichi replies, burying the base of his staff in the ground and planting his feet solidly as the shadow approaches him.

All around him, Daichi hears shrieks of surprise as other shadows dart through the fray, making it a short-lived fight as the tides are suddenly turned on the poachers. This close to one of the shadows, Daichi sees that his suspicions are right. The shape that the shadow takes is distinctively humanoid, like someone had cut out a patch of the woods in the shape of a person and filled it with the night sky, moulded over long limbs and a broad-shouldered torso. Amber eyes blink slowly at Daichi as the shadow stops before him and Daichi gets the impression that the shadow is smiling at him, or rather, smirking at him.

"Night elves?" Asahi mumbles faintly into the side of Daichi's hood as he surveys the shadow from behind Daichi's shoulder. "I didn't know that these woods belonged to them."

"They've been watching us ever since we set foot into these woods," Daichi tells him, keeping his eyes trained on amber eyes and a smirk. "Or more specifically, he has."

"And you've been watching back," the night elf speaks up, his voice a velvet-smooth purr. "We've been doing this every night so I thought we had something going on there."

Daichi snorts. "Just checking that you weren't about to sweep in and kill us all in our sleep."

The night elf places a hand over his chest, his amber eyes crinkling in mirth. "You misjudge me and my friends. We did come to your aid after all, didn't we?"

Daichi scans his surroundings, turning in a slow circle to check that everyone in his group is well and standing. The unconscious bodies littering the ground are all from the poachers' side and a ripped net lies flat on the ground beside a freed Hinata and Yachi, its wielder sporting impressive bruises in the shape of Tanaka's fists. Shadows weave between members of Daichi's group, retreating back into the woods without so much as a word but Daichi knows that they are keeping close, watching them as Daichi turns back around to face the night elf before him, who Daichi guesses must be their leader.

"Thank you," Daichi says. "We've had a rough couple of days on the road and we aren't exactly in the best shape to be taking on a gang of poachers."

"You're very welcome...?" the night elf replies, his eyes questioning.

"Daichi."

"I'm Kuroo," the night elf offers his name in return. "What’s a group of humans like you doing— _Oh._ "

Daichi slips off his hood and Kuroo's eyes go wide, cutting himself off mid-sentence as he sees wooden skin and mossy hair under the rough cloth—all the distinctive traits of a forest elf that Daichi had been trying to hide. But the poachers are gone and they are amongst like species so Daichi can afford to reveal himself to Kuroo. Besides, if Daichi was being entirely honest, he likes the way Kuroo goes slack-jawed at his appearance, expecting that he had saved a group of humans instead of elves. They must have done well in concealing their appearances if even another group of elves couldn't tell what they were and Daichi feels smug.

"We're headed to the colony westward of the woods. You must have heard about what happened to the eastern forests," Daichi tells him.

Kuroo grimaces. "Forest fires. We could smell the smoke all the way over here."

"There wasn't anything we could do but run." Daichi rubs his arms absently. "The poachers started sweeping in once the worst of it starting clearing out. We were worried that they chased us all the way out here."

"No, these are a local group. They're trying to make these woods their base of operations but the keyword here is 'trying'." Kuroo smiles thinly as he nudges a poacher's shoulder with a foot. "There shouldn't be any left but if you like, we could escort you to the colony."

"Thanks, but we'll be fine. It's only a day's walk from here."

"Then to the edge of the woods?" Kuroo suggests.

"Even if I said no, you'd still watch us all the way there, won't you?" Daichi raises an eyebrow.

"You already know me so well." Kuroo's eyes crinkle.

Kuroo waits patiently as Daichi talks with every member of his group, matching him step for step as they set off through the woods at a brisk pace. Daichi had meant it when he said it was a day's walk from the colony and he fully intends to get there before the sun sets.

"Why were you watching us anyway?" Daichi asks as he yanks his hood up over his head again. "It's not like we're here to take over your territory or destroy it. We're just passing through."

"One can never be too careful." Kuroo shrugs. "Besides, if I hadn't been watching you, things might have ended badly with the poachers."

"We could have taken them on easily in normal circumstances," Daichi says, trying not to sound defensive. "But after fleeing from the fires and the poachers, everyone's not exactly in their best condition."

"Oh, I don't doubt the strength of you or your group, Daichi. You're probably a formidable bunch. I was just there to clean things up a bit."

Daichi looks sidelong at Kuroo, trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not. But it is hard to read the expression on Kuroo's face when all Daichi can see is a shifting darkness and a smattering of stars over his skin. Amber eyes meet Daichi's gaze, narrowing into what Daichi takes for a smile, and Daichi faces forward again, feeling oddly unbalanced.

"About what I said earlier, that I'll repay the favour if you asked," Daichi starts.

"I remember that," Kuroo hums.

"I mean it. If you ever find yourself in need of help, you can come to me and I'll help you."

"I thought you worded that pretty carefully," Kuroo says thoughtfully. "You said to take it as a favour to _you_ specifically to avoid implicating anyone else in your group, didn't you?"

"I don't trust you _that_ much," Daichi says with a quirk of his lips. "I was taking a gamble."

"That's enough for me," Kuroo tells him, his amber eyes glittering. "Given a choice, I'd pick you out of anyone else in your group to help me anyway."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."

"Oh, it definitely is," Kuroo assures him. "Take it as the compliment it is, Daichi."

Sunlight spills over them, brighter than before now that the trees have thinned out, and Kuroo comes to a stop. They have reached the edge of the woods and Kuroo looks expectantly at Daichi and the rest of his group. Outside the cover of the trees, Daichi can make out the other features on Kuroo's face clearly now. Kuroo has hair that falls over one amber eye, pitch-black against his shifting night skin, giving him a roguish look. His eyebrows are just as expressive as Daichi had thought and his mouth is shaped nicely, naturally made for smirking.

Kuroo is hesitating now as he asks, "Are you sure you don't need an escort to the colony?"

"I'm sure," Daichi tells him, looking away from his amber eyes.

Daichi pulls back his sleeve and Kuroo watches in interest as Daichi pinches the base of his ring finger with a forefinger and a thumb, pulling a circle of wood from his finger. Daichi has been wearing this ring for decades now, a pretty little thing he had made when he was younger, and his skin had grown around it, accepting it as part of himself. There is a tiny gem embedded in the centre of the circle, amber like the colour of Kuroo's eyes, and Daichi's lips twitch at the coincidence.

"Here." Daichi takes Kuroo's hand, his shifting skin cool against the warm wood of Daichi's hand, and places the ring in the centre of his palm. "This ring is connected to me so that you'll know how to find me and call in that favour."

Kuroo stares at the ring on his palm until Daichi closes his fingers over it for him. He glances up at Daichi with wide eyes, surprise slackening his features, and opens his mouth to speak, only to close it again as Daichi steps in close and kisses him on the cheek. Starbursts of light play across Kuroo's skin as he blinks rapidly at Daichi, his skin suddenly hot against Daichi's lips.

"That was for the connection," Daichi explains, pulling his sleeve back over his hand and tugging at his hood self-consciously. "To you, that is. If you call for me, I'll know where you are."

"Oh," Kuroo says, still blinking rapidly. "That's convenient. Very convenient."

Daichi clears his throat. "It is. I mean, I know that you'll be here in the woods and you know I'll be at the colony but it's good to be sure. I mean to keep my word."

Kuroo nods, tightening his hand around the ring. The starbursts on his face fade away to its previous night sky darkness and his amber eyes focus on Daichi's face as he finds his voice again. "I'll see you around then, Daichi. Safe travels."

"You too," Daichi responds, turning away from Kuroo to beckon his group forward.

Kuroo watches them all the way out of the woods, half-hidden in the shadows of the trees. Daichi doesn't look back but the nape of his neck tingles as he feels those amber eyes on him, lingering long until they are too far away from the woods for Kuroo to see them.

Suga comes up from behind Daichi, falling into step beside him, and there is a small grin on his face which can't mean anything good. "Daichi, you gave Kuroo your ring?"

"I owe him a favour," Daichi responds, keeping his eyes forward and not on Suga's grin.

"Well, yes, but there wasn't any need for you to kiss him, was there?" Suga says slyly and Daichi definitely doesn't want to look his way now. "You could have made the connection just by touching him on the hand or something."

Daichi's cheeks tingle as he mumbles, "He doesn't know that."

"It looks like he didn't mind anyway." Suga hums, a smile in his voice as he says, "I hope he comes to find you once we've settled down in the colony."

Daichi tugs on his hood to hide his smile. "I hope so too."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and have a very merry Christmas!
> 
> Find me here: [tumblr](http://kythen.tumblr.com) / [twitter](http://twitter.com/catcrowcalls)


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